Santa Cruz’s Jacob Albrecht, who races as an independent rider, won the boys varsity race in the NorCal High School Mountain Bike League’s second South Conference event of the season at Fort Ord near Monterey over the weekend.

Albrecht, the defending NorCal champion completed five laps on the five-mile course in 1 hour, 23 minutes, 14 seconds, according to preliminary results posted on the league’s website. He was followed by fellow Santa Cruzan Chance Tiner [Independent], who finished in 1:25:27. Felton’s Tom Foxx also placed in the top five of the varsity race, taking fourth in 1:26:21, the same time as third-place finisher Alex Chamberlin [Monte Vista High School].

Other winners from Santa Cruz County were as follows: Kyle Petersen [Kirby Santa Cruz], who went 15 miles in 1:10:46 in the sophomore boys race for Division 2; Maddie Ortenblad [Independent], who went 15 miles in 1:23:48 in the JV girls race; Steffen Andersen [Santa Cruz COMP], who went 20 miles in 1:08:22 in the boys JV race for Division 2; and Emily Forsberg [Santa Cruz COMP], who went 10 miles in 1:00:37 in the girls frosh race.

All results in this report are from the league’s website, which only had preliminary results at the time of publication. No team results were available.

Five Santa Cruz County cyclocross riders were named series champions over the weekend.

Scott Chapin, of Santa Cruz, closed out the 2012 Central Coast Cyclocross season by winning the elite men’s Cat 1/2/3/4 division series. He accumulated 236 points through seven races (with the lowest two scores thrown out). San Francisco’s Andrew Juiliano took second [205] and Los Gatos’ Julian Gomez-Villafane took third [204].

Both Chapin and Juiliano ride for Bicycleblue book/HRS/Rocklobster, while Gomez-Villafane rides for Ibis/Buy-cell.com.

Also from the county, Bonny Doon’s Justin Robinson [Cal Giant], who won Sunday’s season finale races in both the elite and master men’s 35-plus A-divisions at Fort Ord, took the master men’s overall title with 250 points; Santa Cruz’s Natasha Perry [Bicycleblue book/HRS/Rocklobster] won the master women’s 35-plus all-division title with 245 points; Santa Cruz’s Chance Tiner [SCJC], who also won his race Sunday, took the junior men’s 15-18 age division title with 245 points; and Santa Cruz’s Geneva Burkhardt [Georgiana Bruce Kirby-Santa Cruz] took the junior women’s division title, winning with 226 points.

Race results and series standings included in this report are from the CCCX website.

Make this the year you will master your mountain bike handling skills. This is a great workshop for all levels – I have attended twice! Check out the 2013 Trek Dirt Series Mountain Bike Camp Calendar. Registration for all camps will open on February 1, 2013. And these camps sell out FAST! New this year: a co-ed workshop is being held in Santa Cruz. — Karen Kefauver

If you’re looking to learn new skills, increase your confidence on the bike, or simply enjoy the sport like never before, our mountain bike camps are for you.

Based in Whistler and traveling throughout Western Canada and the US, we offer personalized instruction, professional programming, and an incredibly skilled, enthusiastic, and supportive coaching staff.

In the past eleven years we’ve taught over 7500 participants – cross-country and downhill, beginner through advanced. Our 2012 schedule includes sixteen women’s only camps and two co-ed weekends.

Every year the request for bikes exceeds our ability to purchase them, and we hope that you will help us achieve our goal in getting every child in the Bay Area that needs and wants a bike, on one. We would like for you to be a part of this special event by making a donation that can be presented to Turning Wheels for Kids on the day of the Big Bike Build.

Your donation will be used for this and future events. Make checks payable to Turning Wheels for Kids. No donation is too small. $5, $10, $20. Anything will be greatly appreciated. Please direct questions and send all donations to:

Turning Wheels for Kids is a registered 501c3 non profit that promotes healthy lifestyles by providing underserved children with a brand new bicycle at the holidays and year round through a number of partnerships focused on preventing childhood obesity and supporting low-income families. Their partnership with the Valley Medical Center Pediatric Lifestyle Clinic helps get kids with obesity related health issues experiencing the fun outdoors as an alternative to video and computer games, TV, and texting.

Tax Deductibility and Tax Identification Number

The value of your contribution will be a tax deductible donation. Turning Wheels tax identification number is 77-0187890.

Thank you for considering a donation to Turning Wheels for Kids. Your contribution will help ensure a successful event and we are happy to share your generosity. I will bundle your donations with a list of contributors and present them on December 8 on behalf of MBOSC – Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz.

“This trail will connect U-Con to Golf Club Drive and is designed to be a sustainable, beginner friendly, and fun way to get from downtown Santa Cruz to Henry Cowell, the upper UCSC Campus, and Wilder Ranch State Park. We had a great workday last Saturday with almost 30 volunteers and we have now logged over 2,000 volunteer hours for this project, awesome!” said Drew Perkins, the trail work organizer.

Meet at the bottom of the U-Con singletrack at 9 a.m. and working three to four hours. We will work rain or shine, but high winds may cancel due to safety concerns.

Trips for Santa Cruz, www.tripsforkidssantacruz.org, is looking forward to 2013. To grow the Trips for Kids Santa Cruz program, the goal is taking more kids out biking on a monthly basis and creating a community of young people who will continue to ride bikes on their own. The Martinelli trailer space in Watsonville has worked out well and Trips for Kids Santa Cruz has a fleet of about 30 bikes. — By Karen Kefauver

Walker [Monster Energy/Scotts Valley Cyclesport] sped down the course in 4 minutes, 57.68 seconds for the win. He was followed by Matten Erbentraut of Navato [Matin Bikes] in 4:58.91 and Todd Renwick of Soulsbyville [CCCX] in 5:04.93.

Walk was one of two winning junior riders from Scotts Valley. The other was Ryan Simonovich [Santa Cruz Mountain Cycling], who won the boys 14-16 age division in 5:26.66.

Also from Santa Cruz County, Aptos had two winners. Devin Kjaer [Yeti/Fox/Family Cycling Center] won both the junior boys Cat 3 18-and-under race in 5:04.39 and the junior boys 13-and-under race in 5:13.55, and Bob Barwick [Family Cycling Center] won the single speed division in 5:13.92.

And from the City of Santa Cruz, Elli Freibrun [Spokesman] won the women’s Cat 2 division in 5:57.87, Michael Ryan [Bike Station Aptos] won the men’s Cat 3 45-54 age division in 5:22.13, James Bradley [unattached] won the men’s Cat 2 45-54 age division, and Bjorn Temple [Family Cycling Center] won the man’s Cat 2 19-34 age division in 4:59.46.

Watsonville’s Andy Jacques-Maynes won the men’s elite Cat 1/2/3/4 race and two other riders from Santa Cruz County also earned wins in the Central Coast Cyclocross Series race No. 5 at Manzanita Park in Prunedale on Sunday.

Jacques-Maynes [Cal Giant/Specialized] finished nine laps in 1 hour, 54 seconds for the win. He was followed by Santa Cruz’s Scott Chapin [Bicycleblue book/HRS/Rocklobster] in second place in 1:01:03 and Santa Cruz’s Aaron Bradford [Bicycleblue book/HRS/Rocklobster] in third in 1:03:12.

Bonny Doon’s Justin Robinson was successful in the master men’s 35-plus A Cat 1/2/3/4 division, winning with seven laps in 49:30. Robinson [Cal Giant] was followed by Aptos’ Todd Hoefer, who was second in 49:33, and LaFayette’s Gannon Myall, who was third in 50:15.

Santa Cruz’s Chance Tiner [SCJC] also won the junior men’s 15-18 age division, going uncontested for five laps in 44:45.

Results included in this report are from the CCCX website. The next CCCX race, which doubles as the district championships, is scheduled for Dec. 29-30 also at Manzanita Park.

Watsonville resident and pro cyclist Andy Jacques-Maynes failed to defend his title after he crashed in the men’s solo class of the 18th annual 24 Hours of Moab, an endurance mountain bike race, in Utah on Oct. 6-7.

Jacques-Maynes was battling back pain early on, and then “tore up” his knees and wrenched his back in a crash at 7 p.m. Oct. 6, according to his Twitter feed. He also posted there that he finally called it quits about 1 a.m. Oct. 7.

“I feel like I quit the race or DNF’d, but in reality I rode 220km off road. That’s not exactly slacking… Just not what I wanted.” Jacques-Maynes tweeted afterwards.

Josh Tostado of Breckenridge, Colo., eventually won the race, completing 223.65 miles over 15 laps in 11 hours, 49 minutes, 34 seconds.

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Who’s behind “Out and About”

The "Out and About" blog is run by writers for the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
Freelancer Karen Kefauver is not only an avid cyclist, but also a sports and travel journalist whose column "Spin City" regularly appears on the Sentinel website.
Julie Jag, Sports Editor of the Sentinel, is a native Coloradan who loves a good workout as much as a good adventure, which are oftentimes chronicled in her "Out There" or "Snow Job" columns.
Read more from them at www.santacruzsentinel.com.